The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, SEPT. 21, 1860.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 21 September 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, SEPT. 21, 1860.

The people of Palmerston North are a"itatin:i for a new Gouptlpiise, A telegram in another column tells tliuit' tale in sorrowful language. It is bad euough to have to await one's turn as a or to serve as & juryman, under the most favorable circimistanfjeu, but for the one to be compelled to remain outside jn the drenching rain, and the other to adjourn with a soaking wet jacket to another building to consider a verdict, is more than human nature can be expected to bear. This reminds us that we have a similar trouble. We can sympathise with the North Palnifirsu>u|»ua, Qnr position regarding Court accommodation v,'ils bad euough years ago ; but it is sr.owjng wopsp every day. Tho Minister for Justice j*npw3 all this. He hn3 confessed morp than onpe his opinion—the result of personal inspection —that the court accommodation of this town is inadequate. The Bench have over and over again pointed out the necessity for a new and more commodious building, it rrjay appear strange that, under the circumstances, which are too well known to the people of this district, the Minister for Justice should neglect to do that which, according to hi& own confession, is urgently required. Yet, at the very time he admitted the meanness, and, what is worse, the inadequacy of tho room available to us for judicial purposes, he omitted the vote which was on the Estimates of his predecessors from those which tho Ministry of which he is a member brought down. Perhaps no one bnt Mr. Rolleston himself will ever kn.QW why this was done. He ha 3 assigned as a ! reason that the money was not available for such a work. It is a I capital excuse, but it is more—it is a subiterfuse. We cap.not. believe Mr. Rolle- ; gton to be siucere in giving such a reason ■ for his culpable neglect, whilst in the Estimates of his Government, as brought down, there were votes for numerous other works which were quite unimportant compare*! to that we refer to, if not unnecessary. 1 f Mr. Ilojlsston had said that there was no money for we nould understand hiin. No doubt this is whap lip would have said had it been police or politic. Q«r opinion is that so long as that gentleman can boast of the title of Minister for Justice, so long wili our grievance be unaoated. He is a hot recu tapist. Too much official life has rendered him totally unfit for a position in which he is allowed discretionary power. He seems to have laid down this hard and fast rule to guide hjm in his political career—never to acquiesce if he can possibly help it, and to make as loijg and didactic a defence of his conduct as possible. He is a most disappointing man. If anything should reconcile the admirers of the present Ministry to their dethronement, it should the country .vould then bo rid of such a political drag as the Minister for Justice.